


The Day We Disappear

by HomuraBakura



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V
Genre: Angst, F/F, Grieving, Minor Character Death, nameless osiris red girl who's name is now kumi i have decided
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-19
Updated: 2016-09-19
Packaged: 2018-08-15 23:33:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8077630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HomuraBakura/pseuds/HomuraBakura
Summary: They told the child soldiers to prepare for the possibility that they wouldn't return from the battlefield.They didn't tell them to prepare for the possibility of disappearing after they had already returned safe and sound.





	

“ _You are the strongest students this Academia has ever had the pleasure of training. You are the elite—you will become the beacons of light for our school, and our world.”_

Asuka walked down the dark corridors of You Show School, her heels clicking against the barren stone. She could feel a stray hair tickling the back of her arm, but she didn't feel like reaching back to try and find it. She barely saw the shadowy end of the corridor, or its crumbling brick walls, barely noticed the calls of her name as other students passed her by and said hello. The stream of “Asuka-chan”s and “Tenjoin-senpai”s trickled around her ears like a drizzle of rainwater.

“ _Do not falter! You will become our first heroes—your names will be remembered forever in these hollowed halls for your fight, for your devotion to our ARC Area Project.”_

She pressed her hand to the door as she fiddled with the key, unlocking the metal door that swung in to her tiny bedroom. She was one of the lucky handful who got to live by herself, although that was mostly because this room was only barely enough to fit _one_ bed. She could have stretched her arms out and almost reached both walls. It was dark in here, too. No windows in You Show, only a handful of flashlights and wind up electric lamps.

“ _It is very likely that some of you will not return from this mission. Some of you may lose friends, comrades. But for the glory of the Academia, your sacrifices will not be in vain!”_

Asuka sat down on the very end of the bed, the whole cot creaking. It really wasn't much, not much at all. The dorms back at Academia had been surprisingly luxurious for a school that hosted so many students, with large spaces, carpeting, plush beds, huge windows with drapes that fluttered in the breeze. Compared to them, this little room looked like a cell.

She knew which was the real prison, though.

“ _I really can't believe—they chose me. You're so much higher ranked than me....”_

“ _Don't be like that, Kumi—you're a perfect choice! Listen to me...come on, look at me...you're the kindest, most compassionate, most protective person I know. There's no one I'd ever want to watch my back more. The first squad is lucky to have you taking care of them.”_

After a few beats, she let out a huge, heavy sigh. All of the tension ran out of her, and she collapsed backwards on the bed, letting her arms splay out on either side of her. The ceiling was pretty close, she thought. Close and cold. Everything about this room was cold. She knew she'd rather be here than anywhere else, but....

But she wished that someone was sitting beside her, instead of...her sitting her all alone.

“ _Just promise me one thing, Kumi.”_

“ _W-what's that?”_

“ _Come back home safe, okay? Take care of yourself while you're fighting for everyone's future...”_

“ _O-of course! I promise!”_

Asuka curled both her hands into fists on the bed. They felt _empty_. She wanted....she needed...she needed to curl her fingers into someone else's....

For a moment, she could almost feel it. Feel her small, warm hand curling into hers, see her shy face tilted down, red across fair cheeks as Asuka gripped her hand in both of hers. Her lips moving in the promise. The feel of her fat purple braids as Asuka stroked them back down against her neck.

“ _I believe in you, Kumi...you'll definitely come home. Definitely. You're not the kind to fall on the battlefield...you're not the kind to disappear.”_

“ _It sounds like you're reassuring yourself more than me....oh, gosh, Asuka, don't cry....don't cry...it's okay, I promise, I promise I'll come back.”_

Asuka lifted one hand from the bed, fumbled across her jacket until she got her hand underneath it, wriggled her fingers into the inside pocket. That slip of paper was still there, carefully sleeved along with a thin piece of cardboard to prevent it from bending. She wiggled it free, drew it out into the light and turned it towards her face.

“ _Asuka, please, you have to understand me—what we did—that wasn't—we weren't heroes. We were—we were the_ villains _, Asuka. You have to come with me. Please. I can't—I can't bear to think of you being forced to do what I did—”_

Kumi's horrified face stared down at her, frozen in time, in space.

Could they still feel in that state? Were their souls locked away in the paper, or consigned to another world entirely? Could...could Kumi hear her?

“ _Asuka, get back! Get back!!”_

The image of Kumi's face blurred—for a moment, Asuka's heart punched into her throat. Was something wrong? Was something happening to Kumi's card??

Then a tear rolled down her cheek. She lifted her other hand to her eyes, found the other tears that were hovering at the corners, ready to spill. She felt thick and dusty in her throat, felt her chest squeezing in on her ribs.

The tears bubbled forth as her arm fell down against her face, pressing the card against her forehead.

“They didn't tell us we'd lose our friends outside the battlefield, too,” she whispered into the card. “Kumi....Kumi....god, Kumi, I'm so sorry.... _I'm so so—rry—_ ”

The bed rocked underneath her with her tears, the sobs echoing into the ceiling.

_Please come back._

_Come back, Kumi._

_You—_

— _promised._

Asuka tightened both her hands around Kumi's card, pressing it to her face as she cried. Kumi's name tumbled out of her lips, over and over again, as though the girl could hear her—could she hear her? God, Asuka wasn't sure if she wanted Kumi to be able to hear her or not. What kind of hell was it, to be inside a card? What was Kumi feeling? Was she feeling at all? Was she...alive even?

Asuka pressed a kiss to the card, long and lingering, as though it were a magic spell that would release the princess.

“That wasn't the day you were supposed to disappear,” she whispered. “Come back, Kumi....come back.”

_Please._

 


End file.
